Foreward/ Allen Weinstein - Introduction/ Brian Williams - First President: John Langdon to George Washington, April 6, 1789 - King and I: King Mongkut of Siam to Abraham Lincoln, February 14, 1861 - Equal Pay: James H. Gooding to Abraham Lincoln, September 28, 1863 - Freedom: Annie Davis to Abrahm Lincoln, August 28, 1864 - Lincoln Assassinaton: Lincoln's Cabinet to Andrew Johnson, April 15, 1865-"Indian" Question: Wolf Chief to James Garfield, December, 1881-Gov. Edmund Ross and others to Grover Cleveland, August 14, 1886 - Spanish-American War: Annie Oakley to William McKinley, April 5, 1898- Muckraking: Upton Sinclair to Theodore Roosevelt, March 10, 1906 - Anti-Semitism: Charles D. Levy to Calvin Coolidge, June 24, 1924 - Anti-Immigration:Women of the Ku Klux Klan to Calvin Coolidge, May 15,1924 - Prohibition: Alva P. Jones, National Cigarette Law Enforcement League, to Herbert Hoover, May 25, 1929 - Woman's Home Missionary Society to Herbert Hoover, June 15, 1932 - Lindbergh Kidnapping: Citizens of South Dakota to Herbert Hoover, April 26, 1932 - Lynching: Henry Johnson to William McKinley, June 5, 1899-Ara Lee Settle to Warren G. Harding, June 8, 1922 - Horace Robinson to Herbert Hoover, November 20, 1929 - Aviatrix : Amelia Earhart to Franklin D. Roosevelt, November 10, 1936 - Federal Arts Project: Gisella (Lacher) Loeffler to Eleanor Roosevelt, July 27, 1939 - Social Security: Petra E. Harthun to Eleanor Roosevelt, August 7, 1941 - Cuba: Fidel Castro to Franklin D. Roosevelt, November 6, 1940 - Separate but Equal: C. Dearman to William H. Taft, July 18, 1912 - George A. Murray to Woodrow Wilson, February 14, 1920 Holocaust: Stephen S. Wise to Franklin D. Roosevelt,, Deccember 2, 1942 - Pearl Harbor: J.B. Manual to Franklin D. Roosevelt, February 23, 1942 - Draft, WWII: French R.Massey to Franklin D. Roosevelt, November 12, 1943 - Anna Rush to Franklin D. Roosevelt, November 18, 1943 - Carolyn Weatherhogg to Franklin D. Roosevelt, October 14, 1943 - Freindship: Winston Churchill to Franklin D. Roosevelt, May 1, 1944 - Japanese War Atrocities, WWII: Wilma Lindsay to Franklin D. Roosevelt, August 2, 1939 - Concerned Scientists to Harry S. Truman, July 17, 1945 - Raoul Wallenberg: Guy von Dardel to Harry S. Truman, March 27, 1947 - Postwar Recovery : Ella Leber to Harry S. Truman, 1948 - Presidential Pets: Phyllis Bamberger to Harry S. Truman, January 7, 1948 - Edwin Burtis to Lyndon B. Johnsone, Jun3 20, 1966 - John Nabors to Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 3, 1955 - Racism: Ray Fadden to Harry S. Truman, September 3, 1951 - Polio: Ralph Ziegler to Harry S. Truman, January 31, 1949 - Margaret M. Powers to Dwight D. Eishenhower, April 18, 1955 - Douw Fonda to Dwight D. Eishenhower, August 8,1955 -King is Drafted: Linda Kelly, Sherry Bane, Mickie Mattson to Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1958 - Queen's Scones: Queen Elizabeth II to Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 24, 960- Discrimination: Jackie Robinson to Dwight D. Eishenhower, May 13, 1958 - Civil Rights Unrest: Woodrow W. Mann to Dwight D. Eishenhower, Septeber 23, 1957 - Martin Luther King, Jr. to John F. Kennedy, September 15,1963 - Leah Russell to Dwight D. Eisenhower, September 25, 1957 - Civil Rights Act: Roy Wilkins to Lyndon B. Johnson, November 5, 1964 - Vietnam Begins: Ho Chi Minh to Harry S. Truman, February 28, 1946 - Ngo Dinh Diem to John F. Kennedy, February 23, 1963 - Vietnam: Bobbie Lou Pendergrass to John F. Kennedy, February 18, 1963 - John F. Kennedy to Bobbie Lou Pendergrass, March 6, 1963 - John Steinbeck to Lyndon B. Johnson, May 28, 1966 - Smothers Brothers to Lyndon B. Johnson, October 31, 1968 - Lyndon B. Johnson to the Smothers Brothers, November 9, 1968 - Physical Fitness: Gladys D. McPherson to John F. Kennedy,March 14, 1963 - Richard Millington to John F. Kennedy, February 11, 1963 - Presidential Signatures:Leonard Lyons to John F. Kennedy, October 2, 1961 - John F. Kennedy to Leonard Lyons, October 11, 1961 - Leonard Lyons to John F. Kennedy, October 16, 1961 - Pierre Salinger to Leonard Lyns, November 15, 1961 - Presidential Advice: Harry S. Truman to John F. Kennedy, June 28, 1962 - Herbert Hoover to Harry S. Truman, December 19, 1962 - Barry Goldwater to Gerald Ford, May 7, 1976 - Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan, August 13, 1987 - Lady Bird: Lady Bird Johnson to Lyndon B.Johnson, August 1964 - Undercover Elvis: Elvis Presley to Richard Nixon, December 21, 1970 - Nixon in China: Mary Ann Grelinger to Richard Nixon, July 16, 1971 - Mrs. John Shields to Richard July 16, 1971 - Nixon's Pardon: Jackie Ann Lucas to Gerald Ford, September , 1974 - Anthony Ferreira to Gerald Ford, September 11, 1974 - Betty Ford: Tyson Garrison to Betty Ford, August 13, 1975 - Dorothy Tabata to Betty Ford, August 18, 1975 - Mother Teresa to Jimmy Carter, November 17, 1979 - Economy: Roy Klober to Jimmy Carter, 1980- L.W. McKenzie, Jr. to Jimmy Carter, 1980 - Iran Hostage Situation: Cyrus Vance to Jimmy Carter, April 21, 1980 - Natural Disasters: Andy Smith to Ronald Reagan, April 18, 1984 Ronald Reagan to Andy Smith, May 11, 1984 - First Gulf War: Patricia J. Elvin to George H.W. Bush, November 27, 1990;Eric Colton to George H. W. Bush, February 12, 1991 - Space: Thaddeus Zaforewicz to Richard Nicon, July 20, 1969 - John Glenn to Bill Clinton, November 6, 1998.
Summary:
Dear Mr. President presents a delirous potpourri of 87 letters written by people from all walks of life, from children to the working man of the very famous. This carefully selected batch of letters includes the letter from a ten year old Fidel Castro to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 requesting ten bucks; an offer from Annie Oakley to President McKinley to raise a company of fifty American lady sharpshooters in the event of a war with Spain; a scrawled note on American Airlines in flight letterhead from Elvis Presley to Richard Nixon offering his serivces to fight the Hippie Elements; and a very moving letter about the state of Civil Rights from Jackie Robinson to President Eisenhower. The letters themselves are reproduced where possible as full size facsimiles and are acompanied with commentary to help the reader place them within historical events. Some archival photos also run with the letters, in cases where the writer and the President were photographed together.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.